A national dialogue on new constitutional roles of civil society

The Chair of the Committee was invited by the Moroccan government in an event dedicated to participatory democracy , in the city of Rabat. 21 and 22 March 2014. The Morocco organized on that date , the final Assembly of the National Dialogue on civil society under the leadership of its Minister for Relations with Parliament and civil society, Habib CHOUBANI.

It is for Morocco to ask the legislative basis for the activation of articles of the Constitution of 2011, dedicated to civil society and its new roles. It is also to deepen the debate on community life, freedoms, rights, responsibilities , relationships and governance.

Having welcomed the initiative of Morocco , and the high quality of the work presented , the President of the Committee , Anne -Marie CHAVANON , recalled the objectives of the Code of Good Practice for the participation of civil society in decision making. She stressed " the need for all stakeholders to sit around the table at the beginning of the implementation of policies or projects , with the same legitimacy. As we all know , has she added , if we want people to join , they must be co -responsible . Both women and men. Both those recognized in society and those who are excluded , irrespective of their origin or convictions "

These meetings resulted in the presentation of a philosophical approach , methodology and deliverables "historic" for Morocco but that could, if not weakened, be models for other countries.

The objective is to institutionalize participation while avoiding too formal (rigidity and bureaucracy seem contradictory to the authors with the principle of participation ) .The level of participation sought is the joint responsibility

A steering committee composed of 66 people (parliamentarians, representatives of national and local governments, and 36 representatives of civil society including 30 % women ) clarified the concepts (600 words long struggled to reach a common terminology from debate and consultation ) , garnered the widest experience (analysis of the international literature, interviews , visits, scrutiny of foreign examples ) leads an extensive consultation ( 18 meetings in Morocco and the countries of the diaspora , which allowed to reach about 10 000 people and as many associations).

The Code of Good Practice developed by the Conference of INGOs has been a major element of reference cited repeatedly by the rapporteurs

Texts on climate by the committee

Link to the dedicated website

Living together in multicultural societies : respect, dialogue, interaction

The European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) is organized, every year, in October in Europe and beyond. It offers an opportunity to joint actions with local and regional authorities and involvement of citizens